Jazeera Airways launches new route from Kuwait City to Najaf

The Kuwaiti Ambassador to Iraq Ali Al Moumen; Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait Mohammad Bahr Al-Ulum; senior members from Kuwait's Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA); and Jazeera Airways’ Chairman Marwan Boodai held a conference at the Iraqi airport in Najaf, which received significant interest from the press. The dignitaries signed the Jazeera Airways aircraft model to commemorate the launch. (We are very grateful to our colleagues at Arabian Supply Chain for the excellent photos.)

On 17 April, the Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways further expanded its Middle Eastern network. Najaf (NJF) in central Iraq became the first destination to be served in the neighbour country by Jazeera Airways from its Kuwait City (KWI) base. The airline, which is analysed by anna.aero this week now offers twice-weekly frequencies on the route that it will operate with A320s. Although the 460-kilometre route was briefly operated by Gryphon Airlines of the US, which offered it between 2009 and 2010 to the military, there have been no commercial air services connecting the two countries for more than 20 years, when Kuwait Airways dropped its Baghdad services. The flight comes after the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Kuwait last month to resolve a two-decade long debt dispute.